Jews, Muslims join forces against French airport security

Jewish and Muslim Israeli lawmakers joined forces this week in a rare display of religious unity against the inconsiderate methods of security personnel at French airports.

A number of religious Jewish and Muslim women traveling through France en route to Israel have recently complained of being forced by security personnel to remove their head coverings in public.

One Orthodox Jewish woman recounted for The Jerusalem Post how she was publicly humiliated during a routine security check at Paris' Charles De Gaulle Airport in April.

The woman said she protested the demand that she remove her head covering in public, noting that such a request had never been made at any other airport. Her insistence that the check be performed in private was rudely dismissed.

According to the woman, the French security personnel reacted with even greater disdain when an El Al flight crew attempted to explain to them the religious sensitivities involved.

The unlikely coalition of Israeli Knesset members sent a letter to French Ambassador Jean-Michel Casa protesting the situation.

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